This sauce will be at the heart of many of the curries that we will make on this site.

It is a restaurant invention, likely with roots around the more traditional boiled onion pastes and basic curry pastes, as essentially it is an amalgamation of those but with more water to make a sauce. Another possible inspiration is the Northern Indian curry base Daag or onion masala. It is made by the potful in restaurants across the country and was once a closely guarded secret. Having a big pot of this sauce enables the restaurants to quickly prepare a large variety of curries to serve, and, if prepared and frozen, allows the home chef to do the same.

There are now a large number of recipes circulating for this sauce but I feel that many of them are over complicated and really miss the intention of this sauce. It’s job, in my opinion, is to impart pre-stewed onion with a little bit of garlic and ginger into the curry, along with a small amount of tomato for that additional umami flavour. Many recipes add spices and garam masalas, but by keeping it simple means we can use it for a large number of different dishes and add the correct spicing at the time of cooking. The small amount of turmeric and paprika in the below recipe is solely for colour.

I have added both vegetable and chicken stock to give it some more depth but you could just use water or solely vegetable or chicken stock – experiment! Some recipes add in vegetables and chicken bones to achieve the same goal but I think adding in finished stock is superior as the final sauce then only has the texture of blended onions.

My preference is to use the slow cooker to make this. You could boil it for a hour or so on the hob but it is so much easier to let it cook overnight for 8 – 10 hours in the slow cooker and then let it cool throughout the day whilst you’re at work so it’s ready to blend when you come home.

Ingredients

2 kg Onions (British Brown), diced
100 g Fresh Ginger, peeled
100 g Fresh Garlic Cloves, peeled
100 ml Water
1 litre Vegetable Stock
1 litre Chicken Stock
2 tsp Salt (omit if using stock cubes)
400 g tin of Plum Tomatoes
1 cup (250ml) Rapeseed Oil
1 tbsp Tomato Puree
1 level tbsp Turmeric
1 level tbsp Paprika (or Hot Paprika)

Recipe

Slow Cooked Indian Restaurant Base Curry Sauce

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Prep Time 1

Cook Time 10

Cuisine Indian

Equipment

Slow Cooker

Ingredients

2 Kg Onions (British Brown), diced
100 g Fresh Ginger, peeled
100 g Fresh Garlic, peeled
100 ml Water
1 L Vegetable Stock
1 L Chicken Stock
2 tsp Salt Omit if using stock cubes
400 g Tin of Plum Tomatoes
1 cup Rapeseed Oil 250ml
1 tbsp Tomato Puree
1 tbsp Turmeric Level spoon
1 tbsp Paprika Level spoon. Can use hot paprika.

Instructions

Combine the ginger and garlic and 100ml of water and blitz in a food processor to make a paste.
Heat the oil in a pan or the slow cooker insert if compatible and add the plum tomatoes, tomato puree, tumeric, paprika and salt if using.
Cook for around 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and ginger paste.
Cook for around 5 minutes.
Add the onions and stir well.
Add the hot chicken and vegetable stock.
Cook for 8 - 10 hours on the low setting of the slow cooker.
Once cooked allow to cool.
Blend thoroughly until as smooth as possible.
The finished sauce should have a soup like consistency.
Portion out into 1 cup (250ml) portions.
Freeze for no more than six months.